• EVMWD Rate News

Drought Surcharges Could Come Off Starting June 1, 2016

The EVMWD board will consider removing surcharges at the next board meeting June 9th, 4pm.

Last week I heard some rumblings regarding the drought surcharges that we've been paying since last year, about to be removed from our bills. 

So I asked the elected water official in my area, George Cambero, about it. He asked if I'd like to sit in on their next meeting where it was going to be discussed. 

The meeting lasted about 90 mins, and after it was over I asked Director of Legislative and Community Affair, Greg Morrison, to answer some questions about some of the things I heard.

 WR  Can you give me some background on why the drought surcharge was necessary in the first place?

 GM  If the board approves staff's recommendation next Thursday, June 9th, surcharges will be removed. The reason for the surcharges was to recover revenue lost because of less water use. We have a twenty-five year plan. We were going down that twenty-five year plan/road and the governor said, "No, you're going to take a hard right turn and reduce your use."

 WR  Why would that matter to the average rate paying Wildomartini?

 GM  We have issued dept, we have built projects,  et cetera, that have payments on them, based on a certain amount of revenues. When the governor said, in essence, you're going to reduce that by 25%, in our case 28%, as far as water use is concerned, we needed to maintain that revenue stream. The surcharge was to help maintain that. 

 WR  What does the removal of the drought surcharge mean, and NOT mean, to rate payers?

 GM  The drought surcharge was applied to every tier. Even our customers that are staying within their water budget; tier one and two. They were still getting penalized with that surcharge. That's being removed. It's a literal monetary savings.

 WR  How about the "What does it NOT mean?" part?

 GM  That was my point [during the board meeting], we're loosening the belt, so you can go back to some semblance of normal, but don't go hog wild. You shouldn't ever water down your driveway, you should always wash your car with an automatic shutoff [nozzle]. It's basic common sense. 

 WR  When does this go into effect?

 GM  Once the board votes on it, it'll be in effect June 1st. Customers won't see it until July 1st on their bill.

 WR  How about Drought Penalties?

 GM  Those are on people that still waste water above their water budget.  We have four tiers. One and two are your water budget, three and four are those that go outside their water budget.  

There still is a drought emergency declared by the governor, we have the ability to assign an additional dollar amount on top of that for tiers three and four.

 WR  When might the drought stage 3a drop?

 GM  (after a bit of hesitation) I'd need a crystal ball for that one. The governor said, "The drought has waned," but he also said, "the drought's not over," and Southern California did not get the rain that Northern California did. That's why he (Gov Brown) was very cautious in his announcement.

There are still restrictions on water use, just not as severe and now without the drought surcharges. Be looking for more information in your next bill.

A bit of welcomed news for homeowners in the Woodmoor area 

 WR  During the meeting, the Wildomar area called Woodmoor was mentioned, can you tell me about it?

 GM  It's a CFD and we had the ability to refinance it at a lower interest rate. Each property owner will see that savings on their property tax bill.

At this point Bob Hartwig, Assistant General Manager of Administrative Services, got the precise figures for me.

A savings of $388 per year per parcel.

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Don't blame the mirror if you don't like the look on your face.

— Nikolai Gogol, 1809-1852

Wildomar Rap has been CFD free since its inception.

• Water Worries

Unless you're new to the area, you know we've all been flooded (pun intended) with dire warnings about the drought and the cutbacks that we are all being expected to abide by. This morning EVMWD spokesman Greg Morrison gave a presentation at the Wildomar Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast at Denny's.

Water Use Prohibitions:

• Washing down sidewalks or driveways

• Watering during or within 48 hours after a rain event.

• Overwatering, causing water to run off of a landscaped area

• Washing your vehicle on your property.

• Filling, refilling or adding water to your uncovered pool or spa.

• Using a fountain or water feature unless the water is recirculated.

• Watering on windy days.

• Providing water at restaurants or food establishments unless requested.
• No Pressure Washer use.

Guidelines for outdoor water use and irrigation:

• Use sprinkler irrigation systems between the hours of 6:00 P.M. and before 6:00 A.M.

• Limit sprinkler operation to no more than two times per week on odd/even 

calendar days based on last digit of service address.

• Watering by hand, with drip irrigation or reclaimed water is ok during daylight hours.

• Sprinklers and irrigation systems should be adjusted to avoid overspray, runoff and waste.

• Fix leaks or broken irrigation equipment to reduce waste.

• Having a cover on your pool to reduce evaporation.

We're in a Stage 4 drought and if you've been ignoring the calls to cut back overuse of water, you may be in for a shocker in the near future. We've heard about Sacramento's approval of $500 fines for transgressors, but nothing ever seemed to come from it. Until now that is, as enough time has gone by  —coupled with another very dry rainy season— that such warnings are starting to sprout some teeth.

I wonder who'll be the first schmuck in the area to actually end up with a flow restrictor? 

Here are a few of the points that stuck with me.

• Our area's mandate is to reduce water usage by 25% from 2013 levels. The thing is, we already made 20% cutbacks over the last 5-7 years... so the effective rate is closer to a 45% reduction that we're expected to undertake compared to the halcyon days of the early aughts.

Don't we love unreasonable and unrealistic dictates from Sacramento? My favorite one of theirs is "reducing GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 - a reduction of approximately 30%"... but don't order yet... if that isn't enough to get your eyes rolling check out their new La-La Land idea: "reducing GHG emissions 80% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050."

If the Sac-to dreamers can pull that one off, that'll be right up there with feeding 5,000 men with 7 loaves, and a few fish, and still ending up with 12 baskets of leftovers.

EVMWD Drought Info link

• There is an app called iEfficient that can be used to report water wasters. It's a GPS based program that allows a person to snap a pic of violations. The picture is sent directly to customer service and the ball is now rolling directly toward you. Morrison made it clear they are NOT encouraging Neighbor on Neighbor spying, though he mentioned how that has already started in some areas.

EVMWD link to rebate programs

• No new turf in front yards for new developments.
• No filling pools that do not have covers.
• No car washing at home, even with a nozzle.
• You're soon to be "slammed" with mailings from EVMWD. We know that you'll read them, but question is, will your neighbors bother reading them?

I had a question for Greg Morrison.

Speaking of needing to reduce water usage by 25% from 2013 levels, Wildomar Parks were closed during that time and so there was no effective water usage. How does that work?

• That's a good question... it's a tough question... it's sort of a sad question, because it doesn't matter. I'm being absolutely sincere, I know how the council members here feel about this (pointing to Mayor Ben Benoit and Mayor  Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore who were in attendance). We're doing everything we can to work with the city... it'll be tough.

So you can't go back to the last year that the park was opened as the baseline?

• No, because it's not that specific (the mandate). The regulation is on us (EVMWD) as a blanket. They (Sacramento) don't care about the details.

This is a good opportunity [for our area]. If we get the snows, we get the rains... the penalties, and these drought restrictions, will change. If you have questions about conservation, about what you could do —call. We are here to help people.   Phone: (951) 674-3146

— Andy Morris, EVMWD Board of Directors, Division 5

In short, it's time to start taking our water shortage/drought seriously if you haven't already been doing so. With tiered rates, if you choose to not comply, it's only going to cost you a grip of cash as your water bill rolls in. 

There were many other good points made. If you'd like to see the video of the presentation check it out (it's an hour long). Remember, I shot the video only to use for notes. So the quality is so-so and the there are background noises you'd expect to hear at a restaurant. 

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If it's yellow, let it mellow,
If it's brown, flush it down! — LA Mayor Tom Bradley, 1977

Wildomar Rap is suspending the clothespin boat race nationals, that are usually held in the gutter adjacent to the front yard, until the drought is over.